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The time has arrived to cast your ballot for Best of the Motherlode 2018 in the Sierra Lodestar. Please help support the local businesses that you enjoy and appreciate by filling out the online ballot at the link here.

And of course, we at Alchemy would love it if you could help us continue our 2017 awards “Best Dinner” and “Best Beer Selection.”

Some of what you may have heard in recent days about Alchemy being for sale is true, and some isn’t, so it is time to make this official announcement. After 10 great years, Sandie and I have decided to sell Alchemy in order to take a little time off and then delve into another exciting local project. The new owners are a local couple who are great business people and will take Alchemy into the next era, starting around the first of 2018. The plans are to not skip a beat, keeping the concept, menu, recipes, and staff exactly as they are now. There won’t be any type of closure in the transition. I will stay on for a lengthy training period with the new owners, and then I will stay on as a cook for a while in order to ease the transition and help with our new kitchen organization. The rumors that have reached my ears recently that I am “liquidating” and that I’m looking around town for positions for my kitchen staff are not true. The new owners and I look forward to maintaining Alchemy’s menu and standards of service to their already high level. This sale will close around the end of the year. Thanks for the last great decade, and I look forward to seeing you again soon at my next place.

Alchemy will be closed from Monday, May 15 until Friday, May 19 at 4:00, when we will open for dinner. This is an annual tradition to give the staff a short “vacation” before the Summer months. We hope to see you on the weekend.

Alchemy has acquired one of the most exclusive objects of beeriana that we have ever had, #12 of 453 Lost Abbey Ultimate Box Sets produced. This is the ultimate beer gift for the ultimate Beer Geek.

What is the Lost Abbey Ultimate Box Set?

From Serious Eats: (Link to full article here, link to tasting notes here)

“What is the Lost Abbey Ultimate Box Set? The famed San Marcos, CA brewery released a different small batch beer every month of 2012. Each beer was designed as a tribute to a different rock anthem from the 70’s or 80’s that invoked heaven and hell, with label art from Sean Dominguez. They produced about 100 cases of each classic-rock inspired brew, and released 350 of the bottles in the brewery tasting room for on-site consumption only. (No Ebay! No trading!) After some more were served at beer events, the remaining bottles of each beer were saved for the Ultimate Box Set—no bottles were ever released individually for distribution or sale. Everyone who went to the brewery to taste the newly released Tracks was entered into a lottery, and around 500 of those folks won the chance to reserve a complete box set, which sold for $450. About fifty other people were able to score one, as well, and the rest of the boxes? Well, they went to people like Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head, All About Beer magazine, and…us.”

“The Lost Abbey Ultimate Box set includes 13 special edition brews (aka: “Tracks” 1 through 13), a custom-designed album sleeve with the full-sized art used on each of the beer labels and liner notes from the brewers — all packaged in hand-built, numbered metal road cases. The Box Set case and album sleeve were designed by Grammy® award-winning art director Matt Taylor of Varnish Studio in collaboration with John Schulz of StudioSchulz. Each of the Sets had a retail value of $450 and was not available to the general public nor is it available for purchase. The Lost Abbey Ultimate Box Set was the recipient of the 2012 Bev Star “Most Innovative Packaging” from the Beverage World Publication. Track 8 also received a Bronze Medal (Experimental Beer) at the 2012 Great American Beer Festival and came in 2nd place for Best of Show for the 2012 FoBAB Awards in Chicago.”

In addition, our box contains an autographed card from Tomme Arthur, owner and brewer of Lost Abbey.

Various outlets have offered these boxes for sale ranging from $500-$800.

We are honored to have received the 2016 Innovations in Tourism award from the Calaveras Visitors Bureau in the Restaurant category, recognizing Alchemy’s consistency, extensive beer list, and regular community events. Thanks to all of you who voted for us! Jason and Sandie finally got out of town to The Hotel Ledger in Mokelumne Hill last night to accept the award.

Alchemy has been awarded Trip Advisor’s “Certificate of Excellence” and “Tops in Restaurants” awards for the third year in a row. As many of you know, Trip Advisor may be more popular than Yelp, and it takes a long time to build up consistently good ratings to win this award. I just want to thank my great staff who works hard every day to give you all great food and service. Also, I want to thank all of our Trip Advisor supporters who have contributed to this award, which is based on receiving consistently high ratings from travelers. It has been a pleasure to serve the Murphys community for the past 9 years, and we all look forward to serving you for years to come. Thanks again. — Jason.

Just a reminder that after our long vacation, we will be opening the doors again to serve you on Friday at 4:00 and will have our regular hours all Summer from there on out. Live music from Matt Cullen 5:30-8 on Friday.